Dozens of professions in demand

ENGINEERING is just one of dozens of professions and trades on
the Department of Immigration's in-demand list, ranging from
accountants and anaesthetists to wall tilers and welders.

Chefs are in constant demand; there are severe shortages across
the hospitality industry.

Miccal Cummins, director of the Sydney caterer Gastronomy, said
finding and retaining staff was one of his biggest headaches.

He had been advertising for a driver for the past month, he
said, without receiving a single inquiry. At the moment he had a
Swiss-trained chef filling in.

Of his current staff of 51, he had two people who did nothing
but recruit and train staff.

"You are competing against everyone. Obviously people who think
about themselves as working in hospitality don't think about
driving a truck up in one of the mining regions, but that doesn't
mean that it doesn't take away people from the overall job
market."

Employees can make demands that once would have been dismissed.
Mr Cummins said the mother of one of his staff - a high school
student - had demanded that her son be home by 10pm. He explained
that functions often did not start until 7pm, then went to
midnight. But the mother insisted.

In the end, he made sure his employee got the early mark. "It's
been a long time since a mother told me what to do," he
laughed.